The budgies and tiles were having substantially more time out together. Then things between Piper (male budgie) and Emma (female cockatiel) heated up again. Piper was confining Emma to a quarter of the available space on the two cage tops. Whenever Winter or Silver got close, he would chase them away. If Emma tried to go elsewhere, he would try to bring her back.

Although this was quite entertaining to watch, I decided this wasn't a good dynamic for any of the birds, so I cut way back on their time together.

Today I actually see signs that Piper and Winter (female budgie) are getting significantly more affectionate. There seems to be mutual feeding going on.

His philosophy is "if you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with".